1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates to intravenous catheters. More particularly, the present invention relates to an intravenous catheter apparatus which incorporates a stylet which may be retractable into the barrel of the protector chamber after use for safe disposal of the stylet after contamination.
2. General Background
In the area of providing health care, one of the most difficult problems raised by concerns of health care providers is the technology that is acquired in order to insure a safe hospital environment. Members of hospital staff, more particularly members of a hospitals medical staff, want to be assured that the risk of becoming infected nosocomially while caring for patients is minimized as much as possible. In addition, patients want assurances that treatments in hospitals do not put them at risk. This concern is including but not limited to the hospital setting but encompasses nursing homes, home health, dentist and physician practice and hospice care.
There have been two basic approaches which achieve to minimize the risk of infection in such settings, those being: (a) the use of protective barriers and (b) testing for infectious processes. The risk of infection from patient to staff is a reality and a great concern to health care providers.
Parenteral transmission, either in the form of needle sticks or in IV stylet puncture wounds is a very common infection route which is of grave concern to intravenous therapy administrators.
At the present time the most prevalent method of preventing puncture wounds and exposure for intravenous therapy implementation as recommended by A.H.A., the C.D.C. and Occupational Safety and Health Administration relies on the use of "universal precautions"; protective barriers such as gloves to protect hands from exposure to blood and/or body substances and containers for disposal of stylets and sharps. Gloves should reduce the incidence of blood contamination of hands, but they cannot prevent penetrating injury caused by needles, stylets, or other sharp instruments.
"Universal precautions" provide a guideline to benefit employees for protection and minimize the risk of nosocomially transmission. However, the effectiveness of such precautions depends on accountability, direct initial orientation, ongoing education, training and vigilant compliance. Presently, it appears that the major concern is the technique by which the precautions are undertaken, but not the technology which would combat such serious injury. On the issues of the likelihood of transmission of nosocomially infection i.e., HIV transmission (Aids), Hepatitis, the C.D.C. sites (four studies of health care worker contracted HIV infection from known percutaneous or mucous membrane exposures. Although the statistics are small, the results of such are catastrophic.
The utilization of an intravenous catheter utilizing a stylet/catheter is the most widely used apparatus in health care today in the field of IV therapy. The problem area is following the puncture of the vascular system with the typical intravenous catheter which contains a sharp stylet which must be extracted from the outer catheter following intravenous insertion, which results in a risk of "puncture wound" or blood contamination following such retraction from the contaminated stylet, which can result in serious nosocomial infections. It is quite apparent that the present method used to combat such puncture injury/contamination is ineffective and the subsequent expenses should employees become injured or contaminated is a serious problem within the health care industry and must be addressed by both health care providers and institutions.
There have been a number of patents issued in the art which relate to technology in the area of syringe design or the like. The most pertinent of these are listed in the accompanying submission of art documents.